In October 1999, my cousin Jim Hagander and his fiancee Jacque Rardin planned their wedding to be held at a castle in Fintry, Scotland. I was in London on business the week before, so it made it easy to fly up to Edinburgh to meet up with the other family members. Special thanks to my Mom and my cousin Jeff Hagander for their written accounts which were very helpful in relating the four days we all spent together.

Friday, 8 October, 1999 - London - Edinburgh
I got up and went to Heathrow to catch my flight to Edinburgh. It was an uneventful flight and after a long queue for a taxi, I was on my way into town. The only other time I was in Edinburgh was with my parents in 1977, so I was looking forward to going back. My taxi stopped in front of my hotel, the Frederick House, and as I got out, my cousins Ron, Pam and Jim appeared! I checked in and we all agreed to meet in a bit to go to lunch.

We all met for lunch at the Standing Order pub - Ron, Pam, Jim, cousins Jeff and Lucia, Mom, Dad and me. It was great to see everyone. We had a couple of pints and lunch, then split up. Jim and Jeff went to Filthy McNasty's pub on Rose Street for another pint, Lucia shopped, Pam wanted to see the Antiquities museum and Ron wanted to see the Castle. We drove with Ron and Pam to the Castle.

It was a little drizzly but not too bad. We got to see the Stone of Scone which has been returned to Scotland after being stolen by England about 1200 something. They never got over it - long memories, these Scots - and finally got it back. It is displayed with the jewels and regalia of Scotland. It doesn't compare with the crown jewels of Great Britain but they are just as precious to the Scots - perhaps more so. We saw the recently refurbished royal apartments as well. Then Mom walked back to her hotel and I went back to mine to rest a bit. Dad stayed on to enjoy the palace at his own pace.

Ron, Pam and Jim headed back to Stirling around 3:00 p.m. I met Jeff and Lucia at 6:00 p.m to walk over to Mom and Dad's hotel, the Ibis, and go out to dinner in the Grassmarket area. Jeff had found a restaurant, Rafters, above the Beehive pub. The five of us had a great meal. We started with a plate of Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties, an item not on every menu we see. Neeps are turnips, Tatties are potatoes, and Haggis...well, if you have to ask, you probably don't want to know. Not bad, and I can cross haggis off my list of things to try. Next we all had salmon, en croute for the boys and salmon steak for the girls. With a bottle of Hawks Run Australian Sem-Chard, it was a very good meal. We walked back to the hotels for a nice sleep.

Saturday, 9 October, 1999 - Edinburgh - Stirling
I went across to street to Cafe Rouge for breakfast - full greasy English variety. Very tasty. Jeff and Lucia came over and joined me for coffee and croissants. After breakfast, we got Jeff and Lucia's rental car, a Ford Mondeo, got the luggage, and checked out. Jeff drove over to the Ibis to see if we could squeeze in om and Dad. After quite a bit of juggling, we did fit, although I rode sitting in front of a suitcase in the middle of the back seat. Luckily it's not that long a drive!

With excellent directions from Lucia, we drove right to Stirling, about 40 miles away and found our hotel, the Golden Lion, and Jeff even found a place to park the car in the hotel lot. The lot was unlined, full of cars, many cars randomly strewn about, and several angry people waiting for people to unblock them. We were lucky to get a spot, and grabbed it - hopefully we can get out again someday!

We checked in and met Christine, Todd and Tracy (Pam's sister and her kids) at the hotel, then went up the street to the meeting place for the long-awaited Stirling Tour. Ron and Pam's son Mark H had gone to school at Stirling, so he was the official family tour guide and had asked us to meet at Sportster's Bar at 11:00 a.m. Ron, Pam and Jim were there, standing in the street, so we had everyone except Mark H. Christine, Tracy and Todd went to find a sandwich elsewhere, and Jim and Jacque had to do some legal paperwork and left for Fintry. The remaining group had a beer and finally Mark showed up (the bus from the University was on break, with the driver eating his sandwich). We now waited for more of our group, and finally left for the Stirling Castle Tour, hosted by Mark H, our fearless leader, who was summarily ignored by all and sundry. It was quite interesting and we hit upon the regular tour guide who was very knowledgeable (not to imply that Mark H wasn't knowledgeable). There were some very lovely gardens and it really was quite impressive. Stirling is the place famous for William Wallace, "Braveheart" if you saw the movie. Of course, like any movie, there were some things in the movie that were fictional as well as discovering that not everything about Wallace was included in the movie.

After the regular tour, we all scattered as fast as we could to opposite sides of the Castle, quickly ducking to the other side when someone else saw us. Poor Mark H. It was like herding cats to get us all out of the castle, about 2+ hours later.

We went back to Sportster's and were lucky to find seats for nine, especially as there was a big soccer game on the big screen TV - right behind us. The noise level was, well, stunning. Outside, with just the usual trucks and jackhammers, we collected our thoughts and again split up. Some went to a football practice at the U of S (Univ of Stirling), some of us went back to the hotel and rested. We all met downstairs about 7:00 p.m., and saw Jacque for the first time - well...the first time here in Stirling. She looked lovely. We all had a round, then split up, with the men going to the Meadow Park Pub, by the University, and the women staying at the hotel for dinner. The "civilized group" had a wonderful three-course dinner in a private room, and then a few of us took Jacque out to a couple of local pubs for a while. When we returned to the hotel, there was another wedding party in the bar and they bought us all drinks. It was quite fun. The guys went to the pub had pints and talked and finally had some dinner, then more pints and more talk. About 10:00 p.m. Mark H's friends started to arrive and Dad and Jeff left. Everyone else stayed until about 2:00 a.m. and had a great time - at least the parts which they remember.